Reduced friction hull construction for power boats



H. A. WILSON 3,191,572

REDUCED FRICTION HULL CONSTRUCTION FOR POWER BOATS June 29, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 21, 1963 mvsu'rox Henry A. Wilson ATTORNEY June 29, 1965 H. A. WILSON 3,

REDUCEDFRICTION HULL CONSTRUCTION FOR POWER BOATS ATTORNEY June 29, 1965 H. A. WILSON ,191,572

REDUCED FRICTION HULL CONSTRUCTION FOR POWER BOATS Filed Aug. 21, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I N o 0 00300 g; Q? 1 q &\

0000000 00 0o 3 k a g 31 1: l i y INVENTOR i l C I Henry A. IKf'lsum U ATTORNEY June 1965 H. A. WILSON 3,191,572

REDUCED FRICTION HULL CONSTRUCTION FOR POWER BOATS Filed Aug. 21, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,191,572 REDUCED FRICTIGN HULL CONSTRUCTION FQR POWER BOATS Henry Allen Wilson, 1000 Eldorado Ave.,

Clearwater Beach, Fla. Filed Aug. 21, 1963, Ser. No. 303,569 17 Claims. (Cl. 115-16) This invention relates to a jet powered boat and more particularly to a water jet powered hydroplane-type boat wherein the propulsion power is supplied by a jet of water as received from below the surface of the water over which the boat skirns when so propelled.

An object of this invention is the improved production of a boat hull construction of the hydroplanetype described by substituting for the usual downwardly rounded hulls and keels, novel flat ski-type bottom strips flanked by spaced keel or rail means for introducing and confining therebeneath a film of air bubbles between said spaced keels and the water.

Another object of this invention is the production of a boat of the hydroplane-type having primary air receiving chines between the hull sections and novel means for introducing water t the propulsion device of said boat during travel thereof.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a hydroplane boat of the type described having flat bottomed tripartite hull arrangement.

An additional object of this invention is the provision of a tripartite hull construction wherein the fiat bottomed hull sections are delineated by pairs of downwardly projecting rails or keels, one at each side edge of the long and relatively narrow flat bottomed hull section.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a tripartite hull construction wherein each hull has a fiat bottom extending longitudinally thereof and flanked by depending keels and wherein controllable means is provided on each hull bottom for introducing air at a plurality of points therealong for forming a film of air bubbles between. the hull bottom and the water.

A further object of this invention is the provision in a tripartite hull construction providing spaced hull sections for receiving air therebetween during travel thereof to raise same above the water and each section having relatively narrow elongated fiat bottoms providing downwardly facing troughs, one at the bottom of each hull section together with means associated therewith for creating a film of air bubbles on the hull section bottoms and the water and means at the lowermost points thereon for introducing water into a hull section.

Another object of this invention is the provision in a tripartite hull construction of means to introduce primary hull lifting air therebeneath during travel thereof on the water together with means to introduce secondary air at a plurality of points longitudinally of certain parts of the hull construction and to disable certain of said secondary means as said hull construction is lifted above the water during said travel.

Another object of this invention is the production of a boat having a propulsion means and a tripartite flat bottom hull construction defined by parallel spaced downwardly projecting keels or rail means, one at each side of said hull construction and wherein the rear portions of said keels are hollow and open for introducing water to said propulsion means.

The above and other objects will become apparent from a consideration of the following specification, taken with the accompanying drawings, which together form a complete disclosure of my invention.

In the drawings, wherein like elements are represented by like characters of reference:

3,191,572 Patented June 29, 1965 FIG. 1 is a top axonometric view of my novel boat;

FIG. 2 is an axonometric view showing the bottom of the boat;

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing the relation of the primary and secondary air introducing means;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section on the line 44 of FIG. 2 showing the primary air introducing hull construction;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section on the line 55 of FIG. 2 showing the secondary air introducing and bubbling antifriction means with controls;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the hull and means of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a transverse section on the line 77 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a transverse section on the line 8--8 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary enlarged and detailed axonometric sectional view of the hollow, open water introducing rear portion of the rail or keel means of FIG. 8.

The numeral 10 refers to a boat having a tripartite hull construction providing laterally spaced hull sections 11, 12 and 13 for the normal and functional introduction of primary air therebetween and thereunder during travel thereof over water. Such a boat, no matter how propelled, is known as a hydroplane. As shown, my invention is to improve the construction of the hull for increased speed and operating conditions of such a watercraft and to this end each hull section 11, 12 and 13 has a fiat anti-friction ski-like bottom 14, 15 and 16 respectively and the spaced sides of each hull section terminate below said bottoms in downwardly projecting rail-like keels or fins 17 to 22 inclusive. As stated these spaced keels flank each side of each said bottom and project below said bottoms 14, 15 and 16 to form therewith downwardly facing troughs T, for a purpose later to appear. Each hull section 11, 12 and 13 has a tapered bow portion 23, 24 and 25 respectively with which the bottom portions 14, 15 and 16 merge as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 in a more or less conventional manner. The hull sections 11 and 12 which taper rearwardly from said bows and are connected throughout their length by a rearwardly expanding concaved wall or chines 26, elevated somewhat above the bottoms 14 and 15 and the hull sections 12 and 13 are similarly joined by a rearwardly expanding concaved wall or chine 27 elevated somewhat above the bottoms 15 and 16. These anchored walls or chines 26 and 27 with the integral hull sections 11, 12 and 13 and their flat troughlike bottoms 14, 15 and 16 together, form'the bottom of the tripartite hull of the boat 10.

As is stated in the first object of my invention, I seek to provide a greatly improved water jet propelled water craft which will be very rigid and stable in use, yet will be capable of very fast and smooth water travel by means which will permit the boat bottom to be almost friction free of the surface of the water over which it will actually skim when so propelled. This I accomplish by the convex tripartite hull construction, spaced and connected by two intermediate primary air receiving and hull elevating concave walls 26 and 27 which expand rearwardly from their narrowest width adjacent the bow 23, 24 and 25. As is indicated by arrows and by legends in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 primary air in great quantitles will be funnelled into the forwardly flaring and enlarged open ends of the two scoops provided on each side of the main hull mounting by my novel tripartite boat hull construction, in operation and use.

Hence in hydroplane manner the unitary boat hulls will be raised above the normal water line 54 as the intake of primary air is compacted between the concaved wall portions 26 and 27 connecting the hull sections of the boat and the water, i.e. from the full line position the multiple hull structure will be in sliding relation with the top surface of the water. So to further reduce friction and improve the boat travel air bubbles are then introduced under pressure through longitudinally spaced lines of openings at 28, 29 and Silas will now be described in detail.

Each bottom portion l4, 15 or 16 is provided with a plurality of sets 28, 29 and 3! of openings 31, the sets 23, 29'and 34) are spaced longitudinally of the bottoms 14,15 and 16 as explained and means are provided in each hull section for supplying air to the sets 28, 23 and 3d of openings 31. These means are illustrated in an example in FIGS. 2, 3, '5 and 6 wherein a cover 32 particularly shown in FIG. is provided over the bottom 16, spaced therefrom, and forming a junction with the bottom 16 at 33, somewhat more than half the length of the bottom 16 rearwardly to form an air conduit 34.

The forward portion of the conduit 34 terminates in a fan or blower housing 35 having inlet ports 36 and 37 drawing in air as shown in FIG. 3 and for supplying air to a rotor 38, which is mounted in the housing 35 andis driven by suitable means, not shown. The inlet ports as and 37 are connected respectively to inlets 39' and 4% in the bow of the hull section, adjacent the rail thereof. The means for introducing air into the hull sections 11 and 13 being substantially identical with that described above, no further description is believed to be necessary.

The hull of the boat may be provided with a suitable deck 431., a seat 42 and a windshield 43. A bulkhead or fire wall .4 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 as a double substantially V-shaped element.

The boat hull 10 may be provided with a suitable cover 45 having a hatch 46 therein, which affords access to the power plant.

Means are provided to control the admission of air into the openings 31 as the hull raises above the water to uncover same. Such means may comprise suitable shutters 47 which may be automatically controlled by suit able means responsive to speed or vertical inclination of the boat, but also as shown by manual controls such as the Bowden wire members 48.

A further novel feature is the means for supplying water to the jet propulsion motor M. The motor pump means here indicated forms no part of the present invention and may be of any well known or approved type such as isindicated at 13 in Patent 3,070,956 of January 1, 1963, which receives its initial or primary water supply through means 12 in the bottom of the boat when at rest. To this end each of the keels or rails 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 is made hollow from a point about two-thirds its length back to the stem end thereof as shown in FlGS. 8 and 9. These hollow portions being substantially identical, only one will be described. The vertically hollow portion is designated at 49, see FIGS. 2, 6, 8 and 9, and comprise downwardly facing channels, having parallel side walls 5%, 51. Extending upwardly and rearwardly across these channels 49 are a plurality of water directing vanes $2 which operate or function as scoops to lift water up from beneath the surface to the jet propulsion apparatus M. Adjacent the upper end thereof each channel section 49 is connected to a manifold 53 leading to the jet propulsion device M. It may be noted, and will later appear that the channel members 49 are the only portions of the boat which are always below water level during operation. As proportioned and shown in FIGS. 2, 6, 7 and 8 the center hull section 12 is the widest and comprises the main body portion of the hull but aside from this difference in width of the center section all sections are structurally and functionally the same. Therefore sections Hand 13 at either side of the center section 12 complete the tripartite hull and cooperate in providing a stable structure.

When the boat is at rest water will fill the chines Z6 and 27 as well as the inverted troughs l4 and as shown at 45 in FlGS. 4 and 5, and thus provide an ample supply of water for the pump device when the motor M is started, however, as soon as the jet propulsion device M is put into operation and the boat gets underway the relative water line as indicated at 55 in FIG. 5 will be maintained. As stated above forward movement of the boat causes the bow of the boat to rise first and the final position is as shown in FIG. 5 where the water line is represented approximately by the dot-dash line 55. In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, air flow is indicated by arrows.

In operation and as the boat starts in motion through the water, air also enters the inlet ports 39 and ll and goes into the intake of blowers 38. Air then begins to escape through openings, in the series 28, 2? and 3t and forms a layer of air bubbles between the flat bottoms of the hulls 11, 12 and 13 and the surface of the water. This air is confined by the keels or rails l7-22 inclusive and the intermediate, ski-like connecting bottoms l4, l5 and 16 to materially reduce friction with the surface of the water. Thereafter as the speed of the boat increases the series of openings 23 will rise above the surface or" the water, the valve 31 therefor is closed to not only prevent loss of the air from the blower but also to increase the air pressure on the following series of openings. Further elevation f the bow of the boat brings the series of openings 2? out of the water and the valve 31 therefor is closed.. At top cruising speed therefore the whole or all of the ski-like bottoms l4, l5 and 16 of the hull are slightly above water level, only the rearmost portions of the fins 17, 13, 19, 2t), 21 and 22 being in the water. The bottoms 1d, 15 and 16 glide on films of air bubbles and therefore have low friction drag with the water, thus resulting in a reduction of drag almost to zero. The scoop vanes 52 at such times will continue to lift water to the jet propulsion device in sufficient volume, since there are six fins in the water and a vibrating reed 49a, see FIG. 9, extends into each of such water inlets to restrict and prevent entry of foreign matter.

Having now described my invention in a preferred embodiment, I desire it to be understood that I include all modifications and improvements within the skill of the art and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A water jet propelled boat having a tripartite bottom structure providing laterally spaced longitudinally extending generally convex hull portions spaced throughout their length by connecting concave primary air collecting hull raising chines, said chines flaring forwardly and sloping upwardly between the bows of said hull portions and extending rearwardly therefrom to the stern of said boat, at least two of said hull portions having relatively fiat ski-like bottoms which extend throughout the length thereof, downwardly extending rail-like heels .flanlting opposite sides of said bottoms as continuations of said hull portions, means for introducing secondary air under pressure to the underside of said bottoms between said keels and at least one of said keels having openings extending upwardly therethrough for the constant introduction of water for jet propulsion of said boat.

2. The boat construction as recited in claim 1, in which said chines increase in width rearwardly from the bow of said hull portions, and said relatively fiat ski-like hull bottoms tapering in width rearwardly between said chines.

3, The boat construction as recited in claim it, in which selectively controlled means is disposed at longitudinally spaced points within said hulls'for introducing said secondary air under pressure to the underside of said bottoms at spaced points therealong.

4. The boat construction as recited in claim 3, in which secondary air inlet ports are formed in and carried at opposite upper bow sides of said hull portions.

5. The boat construction as recited in claim 4, in which all of said hull portions have flat ski-line bottoms flanked by downwardly extending keel extensions of said hull portions.

6. A boat having a tripartite bottom structure having laterally spaced longitudinally extending generally convex hull portions in transverse cross section, the central hull portion being of greater width than the others, said hull portions being spaced throughout their length by connecting concaved chines, said central hull portion having a relatively flat ski-like bottom extending throughout the major length thereof, downwardly extending rail-like keels flanking opposite sides of said bottom, and means for introducing air between said hull portions during propulsion of the boat and means for introducing other air under pressure to the underside of said bottom between said keels whereby the other air under pressure serves to reduce the friction drag with the water during starting and the air introduced between the hulls serves to raise and reduce the drag during high speed travel.

7. In a boat as called for'by claim 6, in which water jet propulsion means is mounted therein to discharge from the stern thereof, and said keels having openings extending upwardly therethrough and connected to said propulsion means for supplying water thereto.

8. A boat as called for in claim 6 in which there are a plurality of longitudinally spaced lines of openings in said ski-like bottom, and means for introducing air under pressure selectively to each of said lines of openings.

9. A boat having a tripartite bottom structure having laterally spaced longitudinally extending generally convex hull portions in transverse cross section spaced throughout their length by connecting concave primary air collecting and bull portion supporting chines, said chines flaring forwardly and sloping upwardly between the bows of said hull portions and increasing in width rearwardly from the bows of said hull portions, said hull portions having relatively flattened bottoms which are tapered in width rearwardly between said chines and are flanked on opposite sides thereof by downwardly extending keel extensions of said hull portions, and means for introducing air under said chines at both convex sides of said central hull to produce initial lifting and stabilization of said boat proper and air under pressure at said bottoms and between said keel extensions.

10. A jet propelled boat having tripartite water supporting hull sections, each hull section having spaced keel means depending longitudinally from the bottom thereof and forming therebe-tween on each hull section an elongated inverted trough member having an inner ski-like bottom portion, means for introducing air between said hull sections during propulsion of said boat, means for introducing other air under pressure into each inverted trough, and means establishing a rearwardly directed jet of water for propulsion of saidboat, said last means receiving water from said spaced keel means.

11. The structure as defined in claim 10 wherein the hull sections have tapered bow portions and wherein the air introducing means is located adjacent the upper forward edge portion on a side of each bow portion.

12. The structure as defined in claim 10 wherein the hull sections have substantially vertical sides and substantially flat transverse bottoms, said sides providing said spaced keels projecting beyond said bottoms.

13. The structure as defined in claim 12 wherein the hull sections are united by primary air collecting webs elevated above the flat bottoms.

14. The structure as defined in claim 10 wherein the means for introducing water to said jet propulsion means comprises a hollow portion near the rear of each keel means, having an inlet, at least one inclined vane in said hollow portion adapted to pick up water, and said jet propulsion means having a manifold connected to each hollow keel portion.

15. The structure as defined in claim 14 including vibrating reed means at the inlet to prevent entry of foreign matter.

16. The structure as defined in claim 10 wherein the ski-like bottom of each trough is provided with a plurality of transversely extending lines of openings spaced lengthwise thereof for introducing air under pressure therebelow.

17. The structure as defined in claim 16 including means to disable the air introducing means at certain lines of openings upon elevation thereof above the water during propulsion of said boat.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 378,613 2/88 Olsen. 2,364,845 12/44 Glen 1l467.1 X 2,989,939 6/61 Tatter 114-56 3,070,956 1/63 Christensen ll5-14 X FERGUS S. MIDDLETON, Primary Examiner. 

6. A BOAT HAVING A TRIPARTITE BOTTOM STRUCTURE HAVING LATERALLY SPACED LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING GENERALLY CONVEX HULL PORTIONS IN TRANSVERSE CROSS SECTION, THE CENTRAL HULL PORTION BEING GREATER WIDTH THAN THE OTHERS, SAID HULL PORTIONS BEING SPACED THROUGHOUT THEIR LENGTH BY CONNECTING CONCAVED CHINES, SAID CENTRAL HULL PORTION HAVING A RELATIVELY FLAT SKI-LIKE BOTTOM EXTENDING THROUGHOUT THE MAJOR LENGTH THEREOF, DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING RAIL-LIKE KEELS FLANKING OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID BOTTOM, AND MEANS FOR INTRODUCING AIR BETWEEN SAID HULL PORTIONS DURING PROPULSION OF THE BOAT AND MEANS FOR INTRODUCING OTHER AIR UNDER PRESSURE TO THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID BOTTOM BETWEEN SAID KEELS WHEREBY THE OTHER AIR UNDER PRESSURE SERVES TO REDUCE THE FRICTION DRAG WITH THE WATER DURING STARTING AND THE AIR INTRODUCED BETWEEN THE HULLS SERVES TO RAISE THE REDUCE THE DRAG DURING HIGH SPEED TRAVEL. 